YouTube

Within Tolerance Episode 276 - Joseph Alonso of Novo Modo

2026-04-10 · 22:43 UTC ·Within Tolerance Podcast ·0 min read

Brief

Joe Alonso (Novo Modo) tells a conversational interview about his life and shop in this podcast episode: a rural, off‑grid upbringing, early full‑time work at 16, overcoming vision loss and time at Microsoft, then launching Novo Modo on conviction. The talk focuses on practical shop strategy — inspection‑first processes, keeping teams small by design, and prioritizing culture as the primary lever for consistent quality and problem solving.

Why it matters

Joe Alonso (Within Tolerance Episode 276, published 2026-04-10) recounts an origin story from an off‑grid childhood to working full‑time at 16, a career detour involving blindness and a stint at Microsoft, then founding Novo Modo without any customers lined up.

Key details

  • Novo Modo’s operating principles: an inspection‑first quality workflow, intentionally small shop sizes to preserve agility, and a belief that company culture solves more problems than repeated training.
Source evidence

Joe Alonso tells the full Novo Modo origin story—off-grid childhood, working full-time at 16, a career detour through blindness and Microsoft, and launching a shop on pure conviction with no customers lined up. We dig into his inspection-first approach, keeping shops small on purpose, and why culture fixes more than training ever will.

Check out Joe's LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/joseph-alonso-34874690

Check out Novo Modo's IG @novomodomachining

Help support the podcast www.patreon.com/withintolerancepodcast

Channel: Within Tolerance Podcast
Published: 2026-04-10
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwrMTVPH4A8